CDP Announces New Board Member and Investment by WITF

Boston, MA (July 14, 2022) – Contributor Development Partnership (CDP) President Michal Heiplik welcomes Ron Hetrick, president and CEO of WITF, a public media station in Harrisburg, Pa., to the CDP board of directors, and announced the finalization of a strategic financial investment in CDP by WITF.

“WITF has long recognized the value and impact of CDP, first as a customer and now as an investor. This new chapter in the CDP/WITF relationship will strengthen both organizations and have a meaningful impact on the future of public media,” said Heiplik. “Combined with the recent announcement of our strategic relationship with ROI Solutions, today's announcement further demonstrates our continued investment in CDP's technology solutions,” continued Heiplik.

With the investment and addition of Hetrick to the CDP board of directors, WITF joins Boston’s GBH as a public media station supporting CDP’s mission, bringing additional station perspective to CDP and aiding its mission to sustain a thriving public media system.

CDP’s collaborative membership fundraising has resulted in over $210 million in new net revenue for their member stations – revenue used to strengthen stations’ connections to their local communities.

“The role of CDP and the benefit to the public media system overall has been evident from the early days of the project. As the organization has grown and new services added for stations, CDP plays an increasingly important role in helping the system maximize impact through leveraging scaled technology and data to improve the efficacy of fundraising operations,” said Hetrick.

Originally founded as an initiative within GBH, CDP is now an independent public benefit corporation working on behalf of more than 240 public media stations to manage membership data, analyze data and fundraising results, and develop best practices.

“GBH served as the original incubator for CDP with the singular goal of advancing the sustainability of community-based public media across our country. We welcome this shared investment; it is in keeping with GBH’s original vision for CDP’s role as a collaborative enterprise dedicated to the success of all public media stations and I am confident WITF and GBH will be joined by other public institutions in the future,” said Jon Abbott, president and CEO of GBH and CDP Board Chair.

Contact: Daren Winckel dwinckel@cdpcommunity.org

About CDP
The Contributor Development Partnership is a unique industry resource, with a 10-year track record advancing the success of public media organizations and helping increase their net revenue as they build support for their distinctive local mission. Nearly 200 stations participate in CDP’s core services. The National Reference File is a collective database that allows CDP to benchmark station fundraising performance, support research and development of new strategies and drive new revenue opportunities. The Member Services Bureau offers a cost-effective contributor fundraising service on behalf of stations – collectively raising over $160 million per year to support stations. CDP is a datadriven organization that enables every station to apply scale and drive significant improvement in fundraising. Core to CDP’s mission is to continuously champion testing and innovation for the benefit of public media stations. For more information visit cdpcommunity.org.

About WITF
WITF is a trusted provider of public media news and programming for approximately 2.3 million people in 19 counties of Central Pennsylvania, encouraging children and adults to Live Inspired®. A member station of PBS and NPR, WITF's media services include public television (WITF TV and WITFK PBS KIDS 24/7), public radio (WITF 89.5 & 93.3), websites (including witf.org, stateimpact.npr.org/Pennsylvania, and ExplorePAhistory.com), and a production services division (Media Solutions). WITF's mission is to inspire lifelong learning by connecting people and communities of Pennsylvania through trusted journalism, thoughtful discussion and educational experiences. WITF engages minds and enriches lives. For more information, visit witf.org.